Cape Cod upstairs warmer?

[Ironman1079]

i have a cape cod house built in the 1940's. i was told the upstairs of these houses is always warmer then the downstairs. What causes this with these type of houses?

I just had my upstairs refinished with drywall and all new insulation included, and with the weather getting warmer now, i can already notice it is warmer up there just like in the winter, it was colder up there.

if someone can explain to me why the upstairs in these houses are like this, i would greeatly appreciate it.

i know that warm air rises.

[househelper]

i know that warm air rises.
I believe you answered your own question.

[Phelps]

Out of curiosity, WHEN did you have it insulated? The reason I ask is in the fact you said it was colder up there in the winter. If you had it insulated, let's say, before the winter, and with heat rising, as was stated, then even in the winter, the upstairs should have felt warmer to you.

If the attic was insulated properly, let's say, but you had heat rising from below (in the winter)...then in the winter, the upstairs should be warmer, and in the summer actually it should feel cooler.

It could be that if it is colder in the winter, but warmer in the summer, that the way they insulated the attic area was not sufficient and you are getting heat in your attic in the summer, and cold in your attic in the winter, that is migrating through the walls and ceiling up there. For example...maybe they did not address insulating the vertical WALLS common with the attic. Or, maybe the angled ceilings don't have sufficient insulation in them.

Can you tell us exactly what they insulated up there, and how much?

[Ironman1079]

i had it insulated i beleive in early november 2005

the whole front of cape is a knee wall and I insulated the floor in there under the floor boards with r-19 insulation.

the rear of the cape is dormered with r-13 in the exterior side and rear walls and r-19 against the knee wall.

the sloped wall from the knee wall up to the ceiling upstairs is r-19 and the whole ceiling is r-38.

i am thinking it may have something to do with my ventilation. i need to have a soffit vents installed along the whole rear eave up at the top of the dormer, maybe that could cause this......maybe i will just have to wait and see how it is when summer hits, also the 2 narrow long windows at the rear are shot, so that may be part of it too.

weather up here in new york got up to about 50 yesterday and the downstairs thermostat sais 65 and the upstairs thermometer weather station said 68-70.

[Ironman1079]

maybe they did not address insulating the vertical WALLS common with the attic.



explain this better please?

[Ironman1079]

here are some pictures of the insulated walls back in november. the ceiling ones are too big to put on here.

[Wgoodrich]

Looks like you have it well insulated. You even have plastic vapor barrier across the windows. Now it warms up outside and remembering heat rises the downstairs is heating the upstairs and you insulation is containing that heat.

You need to install ventilation such as airconditioning to maintain room temperature as desired. Then the insulation will help hold that cooler conditioned air in that area limiting the loss of the cooler air.

Whether cape cod or total 2 story your upstairs will always be hotter than the downstairs unless air conditioning is installed to create a comfort area of temperature contained by your insulation.

Many times the house heating works fine upstairs in the winter but often times the upstairs is a bit short of a/c to properly cool the upstairs pushing most cooling downstairs to keep a best balance for heating and cooling using the same system. To augment the cooling if needed a window air conditioner overly large enough to cool the upstairs will balance out the inequity of the heating/cooling system.

Hope this helps

Wg

[Phelps]

explain this better please?

The knee-walls, as you called them. Any wall that goes between the livable area and the attic area space. Presumabely the house's gable walls are insulated, surely.

[Phelps]

I just now saw the pics. Nice. Wg is right. But I have one troubling question: With all that insulation and no ventilation to speak of...how on earth is it then that you are getting cold in the winter? Aren't there heat ducts up there? And if there are, are they blowing anything to speak of, or is it mostly all coming out downstairs instead?

[Ironman1079]

I just now saw the pics. Nice. Wg is right. But I have one troubling question: With all that insulation and no ventilation to speak of...how on earth is it then that you are getting cold in the winter? Aren't there heat ducts up there? And if there are, are they blowing anything to speak of, or is it mostly all coming out downstairs instead?

i beleive i am getting cold in the winter due to the downstairs exterior walls not being insulated well, if at all.

yes there are heat ducts up there and they blow mout very well.

but in the summer, i wont be using the heat ducts at all and it will prob still be getting warmer up there.

there is some ventilation in the house, the front of the house has soffits vents the whole length and 2 roof vents up top and gable vents at the top sides.

like i just woke up tonight at 8:30PM, and it is about 63 downstairs and about 2 degrees cooler upstairs, so it still is warmer downstairs.

[deejoe]

Ironman; You say you have heat ducts up there, but do you have RETURN intakes in these areas?
Your pics show a very good insulation job and we hope the R value is sufficient for your climate area.

But a proper ducted forced air heating (i assume this is what you have) has to have Return air ,especially in these upper floor areas.
Unless you have already drywalled the area, now is the best time to install returns, and "high and low" locations (samestud space) work the very best especially for the cooling season , when the high return can take back the hot air back to the unit to be cooled.
also, if your system permits ,you can "balance" the lower level air supply runs so as to throw more air into these hard to heat/cool areas.

[Phelps]

Ironman,

Good morning.

Regarding the fact that last night you had a slightly cooler temp upstairs than downstairs does not mean anything might be wrong, at this time of year. Keep in mind that a well insulated space will actually equalize the temperature between the high temp of the day and the low temp of the day, it there were no applied heat or a/c.

When I go into certain rental units, say from 2-4 pm, I can tell right away if a place is sealed/insulated good or not. The places that are almost up to outside temperature are not insulated or sealed well (this 'test' can be of course skewered by lots of shade trees on the property or lots of windows left uncovered that let the light in), where the places whose inside temp falls between the current outside temp and what the temp was the night before, are better insulated.

But in the dead of winter, if you are in a cold climate and you have had applied heat up there and it is still colder up there, then you have some other issues going on. From those pics you have, it looks like too good of a job for anything to be amiss, and it comes down to perhaps the heating/return air issues that deejoe pointed out.